So, again, it's better to see here.
But what we did was, this was part of our floor plan originally.
We were going to have a bi-level unit for unit number one, which is over here.
We got rid of this bi-level portion in the basement area because that was below ground.
And they stated because of flooding issues and because they didn't want any below ground living, they wanted that eliminated, which we did.
And we got rid of the window wells in the back because we have no living.
So we cut the lower level living in half.
but the part that we cut was the stuff that was below ground. This part is above ground.
So when you walk into this gated area, and by the way to the left is an enclosed garbage area
for access to all of the property or the occupants, you walk into this courtyard area
and here you have right here is the front door for unit number one. What I would also like to
point out to the right of that door is a large window, right? And then this is where the living
room and the kitchen is for unit number one. It's a bi-level unit where then you have
bedrooms. You have two bedrooms and a bathroom on for unit number one. For unit number two
and three and four, all the access is through the side where we have steps leading up to here,
where you have unit number two, which is a one bedroom, one bath. And again, like to point out
the windows that are in the living area, as well as the bedrooms in the rear.
And then if you go up another flight of steps, that's unit number three.
And again, to point out, we have ample light and air for the actual occupants of the units.
So you have the living area, you have one, two, three windows.
Let me just make sure there's no more.
I'm just trying to get through this.
I'm just trying to drag this if it's not landing.
so you have one two three windows in the living area kitchen area for that and then you have a
large window for bedroom number one and then you have a large window for bedroom number two
and then the same thing pertains to the to the fourth unit which is on the third floor and then
as you can see there's no roof deck either because it would be out of character to have a roof deck
in this part of town did that answer your question uh member johns yes all right all right i'm just
going to go back because there's some things in here that i would like for you guys to see
kind of tells the story a little better let me just unsure
so one of the things if you look at their letter of opposition and again
it's really not so much of an opposition because there are members who actually voted of the
community that voted for the project so you can see it was four to eight here and actually one
of the community groups faith cdc they actually voted for the project um and then it was a closer
vote here but if you read the actual letter itself and there's a lot going on there they said we're
against underground living partly because if you know they had concerns about safety but partly
because of flooding. And again, as Mr. Jordan would state, you know, we're going to have
French drains, we're going to have waterproofing of the facade area, and we're going to have
a water pump as well. But regardless, we're above ground. So there's no issue. And there's
we're not we're above ground in terms of living as well, which was important to the group.
So we revise our presentation materials to have a four unit count, reduce the basement
size and remove the egress wells that was what was asked of us after the first meeting
so we were really surprised about the second meeting where we got that type of vote
and so we have 32 west seymour street 32 both of them occupants 35 west seymour street 35 west
seymour street 33 west seymour street two of them
33 West Seymour Street, two of them, 37 West Seymour Street, 37 West Seymour Street, 25 West Seymour Street.
I think we –
All right.
So, I mean, we – again, we – I mean, my client did the ground campaign here.
Like, you know, in terms – what?
All right.
So it's a lot.
I'm still going.
And then if you look at the property history, it was five units.
and for 45 back in the 40s or something like that.
So we kind of mimic that.
That's why we asked for five, but I can see why they asked for four.
So here are the addresses, 4933 Royal Street, four units,
smaller and lot size than us, slightly, 4758.
That's RSA 5.
4925 Royal Street, four units, RSA 5, 2172.
These lots are 2,500 square feet.
37 West Logan Street, four units.
RTA 1, kind of similar to us, only 2,109 square feet.
35 West Logan Street, four units.
RTA 1, 2,159 square feet.
55 West Logan Street, four units.
RTA 1, 1,949 square feet.
So again, we're asking for four units.
We have a larger lot than each of those properties.
And in two of those cases, those are RSA-5 properties, which don't even allow for multifamily living.
And then the aerial view.
These are our lots.
But you can see even over here, there's gaps in these blocks because of development.
And I'll just let Jordan speak, you know, because he's very passionate about this.
But he wants to fill in these gaps, you know, at least for these properties.
And, you know, he has a lot of other assets in the Germantown area.
But he'll explain the difference between the different parts of Germantown.
And then maps of the area, from a zoning map perspective, you see that this is CMX 2.5.
Again, what you would expect here is a little bit more density in terms of zoning.
We go straight to RSA 5, and then we have interspersed throughout a little bit of RTA 1.
And then you can see here we're in Germantown, and there's bus routes here.
And there are some businesses, but not a lot.
You would expect more in Germantown, but there's not because there's not enough density here.
And there are photographs of the property.
These are just vacant lots.
These are proof of posting for today's hearing.
And then, again, Google Earth only goes far as back as 2007,
but you can see these have been vacant lots for some time.
We're talking about almost 20 years.
I mean, not yet, but close.
And then you can just see here,
give you a perspective of the block itself,
mansard roofs, like, you know, porches,
like you know bay windows same thing here and then this is us from the south on this block
and then from the north and then you can see these curb cuts that were pre-existing on garfield
and there's no parking allowed on our side of the street either so we're not taking any parking
away but again now look at what we're proposing here that architecture fits very well within the
fabric of this community. Now, the question is whether the board will allow us to have
the use and the de minimis side yard variance. Again, Jordan will explain to you that he
can't build anything else. He's as far as he can go down, four units. I asked him specifically,
I said, can we go down to three units as a compromise? And he said, no. And then you
see here and again this is more so just to show that the the the massing our massing is in in
configuration and similar to the massing of other properties on seymour i will point out that this
is an older rendering so it this is what it previously looked like when the mansard roof
was not wrapped around but we've made a commitment to have a mansard roof wrap around
and then these are the drawings that we saw previously
and the floor plans we saw previously and then these are our meeting notices again this was
the second meeting and then finally just again for each one and then finally we i have the deeds
to the property showing that philly continental uh sales llc is the owner of the property along
with the applications for appeal that we filed with the board along with the tax clearance
certificates so i'm just going to try to go quickly through that because i know we we were
delayed a little bit but i want to at least show it to the board so with that being said um i would
ask that uh jordan be sworn in jordan could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes my name is jordan parisi farini it's j-o-r-d-a-n
Yes, my name is Jordan Parisi Farini. It's J-O-R-D-A-N-P-A-R-I-S-S-E-F-E-R-R-A-R-I-N-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Yes, Jordan, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Correct.
Is it true and correct?
Or do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Yes. So I said a lot about I testified a lot about, you know, you know, the differences between what some people would think one part of Germantown is versus another.
Can you just explain to me what, you know, what those differences are?
Yes. So Germantown is two different tales, two different stories.
You kind of have the haves and the have nots.
Historically, the west side has always been an area where there's been more wealth.
And the east side has been an area that has experienced lower income, higher levels of violence, higher levels of blight, vacant properties and things like that.
Over the last 10 years, you've been seeing a lot of change in Germantown.
It's caught a lot of buzz.
Everyone's looking at it as a place for good development, up and coming.
But that story is only in certain segments of Germantown.
um typically like northwestern side the more north you go the more to the west you go
the more development you see and the challenges in germantown between those two different areas
are like night and day where in the northwest side of germantown or more north it's it's a
completely different community and there's rents that support development there's not as much
nearly as much violence. There's not nearly as much blight. Down on the south side, though,
where there is a lot of violence, a lot of blight, a lot of vacant properties, it's not really an
area that's being developed. It's kind of just been kind of left to the side over the years.
And this is not to confuse Wayne Junction area, because that's technically on the south side.
But when you go further up, we're talking Brickyard. We're talking Germantown Avenue,
Seymour, where people are literally dying. There's a lot of violence, a lot of poverty.
um development is something that has been shown to be able to help remove blight create
beautification put people back in a position of feeling hopeful put the people back in a
position of feeling happy to be proud of where they live and trying to do that while also being
conscious of the other problem which is gentrification where you see a lot of people
that are from germantown especially on the west side can no longer afford to live in the community
um there's a bit of a problem then you add that and compound that with germantown wanting to see
historical development more expensive development um it's a bit of a challenge and then you add a
black developer into the equation and and all the obstacles and barriers that have faced
um us historically there's a pretty complex issue that we're trying to solve here
while bringing equitable development.
Let's talk about the hardship.
Can you build a property as a right
where it would require two units?
Forget about the side yard variance.
Could you actually get financing
and be able to build it
and then actually make money
to pay off your mortgage?
Not as a single family.
Why as a two family?
Not as a two family either.
You just don't have the comps to support
that to be able to get a loan. You'd have to sell the single family home for $750,000 to $850,000
and there's no data to support that's even close to possible. That would just further push
gentrification, which is another problem. Same thing with a two-family dwelling. You'd have to
be able to get an after repair value of $800,000, $900,000 to be able to cover your mortgage
costs or your debt service and it just wouldn't happen in the area. So you can make the debt
service coverage ratio requirements of a of a commercial loan this of this type even for two
units not while trying to maintain some sense of affordability because that's the big underlying
issue if we could go after 2,000 2200 market rate rents like the northern sides of germantown
if that was even an intention which is not you can maybe achieve it but in the south side of
germantown while trying to maintain 60 70 percent ami it's just not possible but and again you
couldn't generate the rents even
if you wanted to, you couldn't generate
those rents. No.
I think I don't have
any further questions
from Jordan. I'm sure he'll be able to answer
any of you. They adopted your testimony, right?
Okay. Questions from the board.
Since we brought up the DSCR,
what do you think the DSCR,
had you run it as a
two unit? Yes.
What was the DSCR? Well below
1.25, but we couldn't even get
anywhere close to a 1.25.
And then I know you said your target is to do 60 to 70 percent AMI.
And then I know you said your target is to do 60 to 70 percent AM.
Obviously, there's nothing we can do to provide so that what's your one marketing plan and your rent plan to be able to keep those long term affordable at that AMI?
Well, one, it's the market rate rent roughly in the neighborhood.
Anyhow, that's where the demand is.
And just from my experience, like I've done a lot of development in Germantown.
I've also played a major supporting role with the Jumpstart Germantown program.
did a lot of the underwriting the construction loan processes i've seen countless deals and